The X Cells
by Miscellaneous Thief
Summary: It starts out as a seemingly normal snow cone run in Central Park for Mary & Aly. But then the day darkens when Officer X captures them. Will they escape him alive? Sequel to Man Down/Christmas in July. Read Christmas in July first. R 'n R! HIATUS
1. Chapter 1

The X Cells

A _Penguins of Madagascar_ fanfic by Miscellaneous Thief

(Week 1 in July)

A/N: Squee! So, here we are with yet another installment of my series! I meant to take a writing break to give myself time to do something other than writing, but that didn't even last a day. I was too excited to start this story. The idea has been floating around in my head for weeks, popping up at the most random moments, just begging to be written. I'm taking a self oath right now to try and upload at least one chapter a week, maybe more. I don't want to have another repeat of _Man Down_, where I wouldn't upload for weeks at a time.

Also, if you haven't read _Christmas in July_ yet, you probably should, otherwise this first chapter might be a little confusing.

Disclaimer: I don't even know why I have to do this. I mean, it's pretty obvious I don't own Pom, and are not stealing their ideas, right?

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><p>Chapter 1: A (Seemingly) Normal Run For Snow Cones (Aly's pov)<p>

I stood up and began searching HQ for something to cool me down, or at least something entertaining. I was bored and had nothing at the current moment to do. It was during zoo hours, which meant that Mary and I had to stay inside so that we wouldn't make the zoo keepers wonder why two extra penguins suddenly appeared. But, unfortunately, that also meant that at least three penguins had to stay up top, so we were alone most of the time.

Right now, however, Kowalski was sitting at the table with Mary, doing his lessons with her. After Mary and I had found out one afternoon that none of the penguins knew how to read, Mary had taken it upon herself the task of teaching Kowalski how to read. So everyday for the past week they had been having lessons during the late afternoon, when the zoo was almost void of any visitors.

"Okay, so what does this word spell? Remember to use phonetics." Mary instructed as she pointed to the word _cat._

Kowalski stared at the word intently "K-ah-t. Cat!" He exclaimed excitedly.

"Good job, Kowalski. Now what does this word spell?" Mary asked as she pointed to _dog._

I rolled my eyes and continued searching for what I wanted: a fan. It was one of those weeks in summer where the temperature's were 'record high', or, in other words, really freakin' hot.

Not finding a fan, I plopped down in my favorite corner and began fanning myself with my flipper. I sighed in boredom, this heat wave really had a way to put a damper on a penguin's mood.

But my mood instantly brightened up when I heard the familiar chime signaling the zoo's closing time. Private, my _boyfriend_, climbed down the ladder with Skipper following after him. God, how I love calling Private my boyfriend. It made me giddy like a school girl every time I thought about it. We had been going out for a little over a week now, and I was loving every moment of it.

Private caught me staring at him and came over to me. I stood up and we hugged each other. I took in his sweet scent, which was a mixture of salt, fish, and sea air. Out of the corner of my eye I saw Skipper glaring at us.

"No PDA, soldiers." He reminded.

I sighed and pulled out of the hug. Ever since Skipper had caught Private and I kissing the day after the Christmas party, he's been on our case. After being grossed out a bit at the thought of a human and a penguin dating, he'd told us he would be fine with whatever we did in our free time as long as it didn't affect our missions, and we did it in private. We had both agreed to his terms, but I was having issues with the whole PDA thing. I couldn't help it, I just felt like hugging Private every time I saw him.

"So, how are you today, Aly?" Private asked me sweetly.

"I'm hot." I complained.

"Yes, you are." He replied slyly.

At that I giggled and Skipper groaned. He then turned and went into the kitchen to grab something out of the fridge. I stopped focusing on him and returned my attention back to the penguin in front of me.

"You are so cheesy." I teased Private.

"You think I'm good with nachos?" Private asked, confused.

I laughed again. Private is just too dang cute! "No, silly, it means-"

"Alright soldiers, who ate the last snow cone?" Skipper interrupted.

He stood, flippers crossed, in front of an empty freezer. Immediately all eyes turned to me.

"Hey," I defended "Just because I ate the last snow cone last time, doesn't mean that I did it this time."

Skipper glared at me "Cadet..." he warned.

"Okay. It _might _mean that I did it." I agreed.

Skipper's glare intensified.

"There's a fifty-fifty chance that I did it?" I said hopefully.

Skipper put his flippers o his hips and continued

"I probably did it?" I offered, my voice getting higher in pitch.

"Cadet, do I need to take away _all_ dating privileges?" Skipper warned.

I sighed and held my flippers up in defeat "Okay okay, I ate the snow cone. Happy?"

Skipper let go of his glare and grinned smugly "Yes, now that you're going to the park to get us some more. And no, Private can't come."

I cursed under my breath.

I went over to Mary, who was done with her lesson and was now cleaning up. I leaned over to help her.

"Hey," She greeted "What's up?"

"Nothing much." I replied "Wanna come to the park with me?"

She glanced up from her work to raise an eyebrow at me "Didn't Skipper say you couldn't bring anybody?"

"No," I corrected "He said I couldn't bring _Private._ There's a distinct difference between you and Private. Besides, I want to talk to you about a certain something that's happening tomorrow"

She grumbled "Fine. But if we get into trouble, I'm blaming you."

I held my flippers up "Fine by me."

So then we got up and left. If only I had known what what was going to happen later today, I probably never would have eaten that last snow cone.

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><p>"So," I started off "What do you want to do for your birthday tomorrow?"<p>

Mary blinked back in surprise "That's what your were talking about earlier? You remembered?"

"Of course I remembered!" I scoffed "What kind of a cousin would I be if I forgot something like that?"

In response, she took a bite out her snow cone. We had already gotten the snow cones and now we were on our way back to HQ. We each had a tray of snow cones cradled in one flipper, and our own snow cone in the other.

"I don't know," Mary shrugged "I just thought that with everything that's been happening lately, something like my birthday would be the last thing on your mind. I mean, we're freaking penguins! That doesn't just slip into the back of you head."

I laughed "Oh trust me, I _definitely_ haven't forgotten about that. Besides, things have been kind of calm lately. Well, as calm as things can be living with four commando penguins, anyway."

"Yeah, with you though, things don't stay calm for long. In fact, now's the perfect time to panic." Mary half-joked.

"_My point is_," I said sharply "What else could go wrong?"

Then, I swear, almost as if the fates themselves were laughing at me (which I don't doubt), a cage fell on top of me. I let out a surprised yelp as the snow cone tray was knocked out my flippers and I suddenly found myself trapped.

"You _had_ to say it!" Mary scolded me from outside the cage.

"Yeah, whatever. Just help me get out of here." I replied, a little frustrated.

"I finally caught you penguins." Said a voice from behind a bush, catching our attention. Suddenly a black man dressed in a blue suit and weapon belt stepped out into the open.

"Oh no you don't." Mary threatened as she got into a defensive pose "Anybody who messes with _my_ cousin messes with me!"

The man sniffed the air curiously, almost as if he could tell what Mary was saying. Then his face spread into an amused grin "You're not the penguins I've dealt with before. No matter, you're still going down. The name's X. _Officer_ X."

Mary shook her head "Yeah, right, we'll see about that buddy. I bet you go down as easily as the snow cone man did."

"Mary, be careful," I warned her "I think he's animal control."

But, ignoring me, Mary ran forward instead and jumped up into the air aiming a kick for his head. Acting on super-human impulses, so fast that I could barely see him move, X whipped out a tazer stick and shot Mary while she was still in mid-air.

"Mary!" I shrieked, subconsciously gripping the bars of the cage.

With a scream of pain, Mary fell to the ground as she was electrocuted. Her body seized for six whole seconds, then stopped when Officer X finally turned the gun off.

X picked up the now unconscious Mary and tossed her carelessly into a separate cage than mine. He grabbed my cage and then proceeded to carry the both us away to an animal patrol car.

I didn't know what to do now. Mary and I were both seriously screwed. I was terrified about what was going to happen to us now. There was one name that played in my mind over and over again as I huddled in the cage. I wanted to call out for him so bad, wanted him to be here for me, but he was at the zoo, too far away to hear me. But still, I decided, I had to try.

"PRIVATE!" I screamed at the top of my lungs.

_Please let him hear me_, I prayed.

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><p>(Narrator's Pov)<p>

"_And yet, going against all laws and the law physics, Aly's cry for help echoed all across Central Park until it met the ear holes of the very penguin who the call was intended for."_

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><p>(Private's Pov)<p>

I put the last bowl into place. Everything was absolutely perfect. Because Skippah wouldn't allow me to assist Aly in her snow cone run- something, I knew, that would make her a little upset- , I decided to surprise when she got back with a elegant brunch on top of the concrete floe. I had made her a batch of my famous Flipper's soup, extra love added. She is going to be so happy when she returns.

I stepped back to admire my work, and that's when I heard a sound so scary it nearly stopped my heart.

"PRIVATE!" Aly's voice screamed in terror.

Not wasting a second, I dropped what I was doing and tobogganed in the direction that the scream came from. I repeatably called out Aly's name as I went. I've never gone so fast in my life.

Soon I found myself in the middle of Central Park, but there was no sign of Aly anywhere I looked. As I searched around, I stepped in something cold and wet. I glanced down to discover two abandoned trays of snow cones. Now I knew for certain something horrible had happened.

Several possible culprits of who would want to take Aly ran through my mind- Blowhole, the Rat King, the Red Squirrel, and even space squids.

I knew I had to get back to HQ and get Skippah, but I didn't want to. I wanted to stay, to find more evidence, to search for Aly on the off chance she was still in the park, to anything but face the truth, but I knew I couldn't. I had to face that I had been too late to save Aly.

Somewhere in the distance I heard a car door slam and an engine start, but I hardly payed it any attention. Wallowing in fear and dejection, I turned away from the crime scene and began running back to HQ.

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><p>AN: Yay! Longest first chapter ever! So, what do ya think? I wonder why I enjoy torturing Private and Aly so much? I mean, you'd think I would give them a break. But say la vee (I have no clue how to spell that). Now for two self references I put into this chapter: First, the argument that Aly had with Skipper was based on the same argument I had with my mom once, only I was denying doing something else. And second, my dad came up with Flipper's Soup one night when we had boiled fish (not as bad as it sounds) and then asked me to include it in one of my stories, so kudos to my dad!

R.E.V.I.E.W.- Responsive Enlightenment of Views Importantly Expressed to the Writer


	2. Chapter 2

A/N: Hola, mi amigos/amigas! Que pasa?

Sorry, been taking Spanish lately, so I constantly talk in Spanish to A. annoy people and B. practice. For those of you who don't speak Spanish I basically said _Hi, my friends! What's up?_ Anyway, I seriously doubt you guys came here for a language lesson, so let's get to the real reason why you're here.

D.I.S.C.L.A.I.M.E.R.- Dreadful Insignificant Statements Claiming Lonely Author Is Merely Excluding Responsibility

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><p>Chapter 2: We Are <em>So <em>Far Past Screwed Now (Aly's Pov)

The truck slowed to a stop. Three seconds later the car door slammed as Officer X climbed out. I heard the crunch of gravel under his heavy duty boots as he walked around to the back.

He yanked the back door open, letting light spill into the dark trunk. I yelped in pain at the sudden light, momentarily blinding me. I felt X grab my cage and start carrying me somewhere.

After my eyes adjusted to the light, I took in my surroundings. We were in a circular driveway made of gravel. Nice, but didn't really help me out. I looked around for anything to that might tell me where Mary and I were. My eyes finally rested on a sign at the end of the driveway that read 'New York City Animal Shelter'.

Animal Shelter? We're at the pound? There is no way this can turn out good.

Officer X carried us through two double doors into a small reception area. It was empty except for a mouse-like secretary sitting behind a desk sectioned off by glass. She glanced up from filing her nails when a bell jingled, signaling that the door had been opened. Her stuck-up expression brightened up instantly when she saw who came in through the door.

"Oh hey sweetheart," She greeted while smacking on gum "Whadja get this time?"

"Good morning, Caroline," X replied back "I caught these two penguins fraternizing in Central Park."

"Penguins? Really?" Caroline said with mild surprise "What'er they doin' in the Big Apple?"

"These flightless birds are nature's rule breakers. They thrill in disobedience. In fact-" X said as he held up Mary's unconscious form in her cage like a prize trophy "I had to tazer this one."

Caroline seemed as if she could care less. At this point I was fuming, ready to rip apart anyone who came too close to me at the moment. I was so angry.

As Caroline continued to smack on her stupid gum, she pressed a button on her desk. A loud buzzer sounded, opening a door to the left.

"We got room in E-five. Put 'em in there." Caroline said.

"Thank you, Caroline."

"Anytime babe. Come 'n see me after ya take care of 'em, m-kay?" Caroline said sweetly. I felt like gagging.

"Sure thing." X called back as he carried us through the previously locked door.

We entered a long hallway with several doors on either side leading to various rooms, and one at the very end of the room, Officer X carried us past all the other doors and directly to the one at the end. He set both of us down to free his hands to swipe a card through a slot. Another buzzer sounded and X quickly opened the door.

Geez, got enough security? It's like a prison. Then again, I realized suddenly, to us it was.

X picked us up again and continued into the room. The room, except for the ceiling, was lathered in concrete. Chain fences sectioned off the different rows of cages. Each cage contained different animals, most screaming insults of some kind or another at X. The noise was enough to drive a deaf person mad.

Officer X came to a halt at a cage in front of a cage in the last row. It appeared to be empty. The light above it, however, was burned out, resulting in the whole cage being cast in a dark shadow, so if someone was in there, I couldn't see them.

Once again X set us down, but this time it was to grab a security card from his pocket. After he found the right card, he unlocked the cage and held it open, eying it carefully. He then picked my cage up, shook me until I was disoriented, and opened it up. Before I could even figure out the difference between up and down, X had me by the scruff of my neck.

X tossed me carelessly into the cage, where I landed painfully on my back. Having the wind knocked out of me, I didn't have time to react before Mary was thrown in and the door was slammed shut. Mary landed next to me, her still body slamming against the concrete.

I gave X a death glare. He smirked as if it were funny.

"You're not going anywhere, penguin." He said, satisfied, before he turned around and walked away.

A low groan alerted me back to Mary. The fall must of woken her up, because she was starting to stir.

"Hey Mary, you okay?" I asked.

At the sound of my voice Mary opened her eyes and propped herself up on her flippers. She looked around the room until her eyes met mine, then she groaned in annoyance as she fell back again.

"Ugh. If I were to ask you where we are, would I regret it?" She asked.

"Probably." I told her. This resulted in yet another groan from her.

"You're in the pound, kid." Came a gruff female voice suddenly from the shadows. I nearly jumped out of my feathers.

"Who's there?" I asked.

A ginger colored figure slowly stepped out of the shadows and into what little light there was. Seconds later, I realized it was a cat.

"Who puts flightless birds in the same cage as a cat?" Mary nearly screamed in alarm.

Instinctively I got in front of Mary, who was still on the ground. I crouched into a defensive position, waiting for the predator to attack first in the fight I could sense was about to happen.

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><p>AN: Eh, not my best cliff hanger, but still. What will happen next? Will the cat attack? Who will win? Will Mary and Aly escape the pound? Will Private save the day? Why am I, the author, asking you these questions when I already know the answers? Find out on the next chapter of _The X Cells_!

A great big thank you to hardrocker21, hipturtle15, and firegirl101597 for reviewing. You guys are da bomb!

*A bunch of men in black suits with guns suddenly burst in my room*Me-Ah! What the heck! Who are you guys?

One of the men pointing a gun at me- We're da bomb sqaud. Now where's the da bomb!

Me- It was a metaphor! I was just telling my wonderful reviews that they are bombs!

Guy pointing gun- We got a hostage situation here! Arrest her!

*Face- palms before getting handcuffed* Me- Um, well, so much for that. Review and they might let me out of jail... Pwease...


	3. Chapter 3

A/N:*In a hushed tone while eyes dart around suspiciously* Hi, guys. I'm currently escaping prison, so I thought I'd post this up while I'm at it. Sadly your reviews didn't work (something about Stockholm's Syndrome). Anyway, this chapter, like the long title suggests, isn't actually something I wrote a three am as a product of caffeine induced insomnia. Hope ya enjoy-

*A security guard suddenly rounds the corner* Security Guard- There she is! Get her!

Me- Uh Oh! Gotta go! Thanks for all who tried to bail me out, loved your reviews!

Disclaimer: If I had actually fallen asleep, I might of dreamed of owning PoM, but until then, I claim no such thing.

* * *

><p>Chapter 3: Not Really a Chapter, and Completely Irrelevant to the Story Itself, but I <em>Really<em> wanted to Write This (Aka: Author's Inspiration)

Author Miscellaneous Thief plopped down on her bed in her extremely cramped bedroom. After she readjusted her left pigtail, her usual choice of hair style, she grabbed her favorite pencil and notebook. She flipped open to where she had left off with the story and found herself staring at a blank page.

She wrote the heading _Chapter 3: _and continued to stare at the still blank page. She knew what she wanted to write, she just didn't know _how_ to write it. Miscellaneous Thief hated this problem, it had an annoying habit of showing up a lot.

A sudden gust of wind alerted her to the window in her ceiling. It stood open a good ten inches. Miscellaneous Thief thought that was strange, because she could of sworn she had closed it earlier that day. Suddenly she was on high-alert.

She cautiously stood on her knees and went to close her window, being able to reach it from there with her high bed and low ceiling. She carefully checked the room, without being obvious about doing it, as she did this. She didn't know who, or what, she was looking for, but she knew they were in her room. She could feel the eyes on her back.

As she closed the window, not bothering to latch because she knew she would just open it up again later, she heard a sudden noise from behind her, making her jump a good three inches. She flipped around in a defensive position, even though she didn't know a lick of karate, ready to take on whatever invisible ninjas had entered her room. All she got, however, was an annoyed '_meow_' as she discovered to her embarrassment that it was only her cat jumping on her bed and inadvertently landing on her notebook.

Miscellaneous Thief relaxed her tense body as she reached over to pet him. "Oh, it's just you, Ace. You had me fooled into thinking you were an invisible ninja. Guess I'm just paranoid today." She said, talking to herself more than anything else.

She sat back down on her bed, scratching Ace behind his ears as she went. She had just picked up her pencil and resumed her staring contest with her paper when she heard another noise, this time coming from across the room. She looked up just in time to catch a black and white flash, before she felt a sharp slap on her neck and her world went dark.

When Miscellaneous Thief woke up, it was so dark she wasn't sure that she'd actually woken up. Deciding that she must indeed be awake, she tried to get up only to discover that she couldn't. She was tied to a chair.

This is great, she thought sarcastically. She wasn't worried though, far stranger things had happened before in her life. Growing up around her 'odds and ends' family had taught her to just take whatever weird things were dealt to her.

So, instead of worrying, Miscellaneous Thief decided to assess her situation. She was gagged, which she found rather annoying, bound, and in a dark room. She didn't even know where she was or what time it was. She sighed in boredom.

Her dad had once told that people go insane in this kind of isolation. She had replied to her dad's comment by telling him that if that ever happened to her, the worst thing that could happen would be that she would be driven sane, considering the fact that she was already crazy.

She wondered if anyone was looking for her yet. Now she knew how Princess Peach felt, waiting for some Italian plumber who's high on mushrooms to come save her, **(A/N I don't own Mario) **and Miscellaneous Thief hated it. She hated feeling helpless.

Suddenly a single light flashed on, leaving her temporarily blind as her eyes tried to adjust. When her vision finally cleared, she couldn't believe what she was seeing. She had to blink several times to make sure she wasn't seeing things. Standing right in front of her was Private, Skipper, Kowalski, and Rico.

'I must be hallucinating' She though, amused. 'Might as well play along. Could be fun.'

Skipper stepped forward "Miscellaneous Thief, we would like to have a word with you."

The addressed tried to reply, but the gag restricted her. The only sound that came out was something that sounded like "Mmm-fffffd."

Noticing the gag, Skipper stepped closer to Miscellaneous Thief and looked her directly in the eyes "If I take the gag off, do you promise to not scream?"

She rolled her eyes. Then she thought better of it and nodded yes.

"Kowalski, untie the gag for her" Skipper ordered.

Kowalski walked over to her backside and quickly untied the gag, being careful not to pull on any of her hair which had by now mostly fallen out of its pigtails.

She spat out the gag, glad to finally have freedom of it, and watched in confusion as Kowalski walked away from her.

"What, don't I get untied, too?" She asked, hopeful.

"Not until you understand our situation and agree to our terms, doll face."

Ignoring the last comment, Miscellaneous Thief decided to try her next question, one that had been bugging her since she first saw the penguins.

"Hey, aren't you guys, you know, supposed to be on your way to rescuing Mary and Aly right now?"

"That is a scientific impossibility" Kowalski replied "Considering the fact that you haven't written

it down, it hasn't actually happened yet."

She decided to take a moment to process all this in her mind. Once she took it all in, she realized how wicked this truly was. Not only did she actually get to talk to the characters she loved to write stories about, and, if they allowed her to without putting he gag back on, she could even discuss said stories with said characters. Now how many writers could say they've done that?

"So, where's Aly and Mary? I kind of would like to meet my own character. That would be totally epic." She asked out of curiosity. I mean, it most certainly was enough to meet the idols who took up most of her free time, but the tip of the iceberg (pun intended) would definitely be chatting with the penguins who originated from the depths of her own imagination.

"Well, they wanted to come, but they're still trapped at the pound. They obviously couldn't make it." Private explained.

_'Oh, guess that makes sense.' _She thought. Then she re-thought it _'No actually, that makes no sense at all.'_ Her eyes squinted in confusion.

"Wait a minute, then why the heck are you here?" She asked Private "If things work out the way you and Kowalski say they work out, then shouldn't you be in Central Park running to HQ right now?"

But before Private could answer, though, Skipper interjected by holding a flipper, signaling him to shut up.

"Now we could spend all day talking physics, something I have no doubt Kowalski would love, but I would like to get to the point here."

"Well, what do you guys want to talk about? The story?" She asked.

Skipper cocked an imaginary eyebrow in inquiry, almost as if she had guessed the subject head on.

"That is exactly what we brought you here to talk about, Thief. The boys and I just so happen to know what you have planned for the next chapter, and we have some suggestions of our own."

She was in shock for all but two seconds before realization dawned upon her. They wanted to write their own chapter?

"Okay... Um, what did you guys have in mind?" She wondered.

And with that, the penguins formed a tight circle with her, each whispering their ideas in hushed tones. They did this deliberately as to protect against any nosy readers who might try to eavesdrop on the conservation, possibly ruining the next few chapters or so.

"You guys are genesis!" Miscellaneous Thief exclaimed suddenly, breaking their huddle in the process. "I never would have thought of this stuff!"

"So, you'll use our ideas, then?" Private asked rather shyly.

She nodded her head vigorously "Yep! And I'll even make sure to give you guys get credit, too. Except, I'm sorry Rico, but I can't make it so that you suddenly grow huge muscles, it would be illogical to the story."

"Aw..." Rico pouted.

"You write stories about anthropomorphic commando penguins, a diabolical tyrant dolphin with lobster minions, and humans that can turn into penguins and you're worried about being illogical?" Kowalski pointed out.

"Yeah." She offered.

"Alright men, let's get her untied." Skipper ordered.

They moved so fast and swiftly that Miscellaneous Thief could of sworn that it was not even three seconds later before she was free of that accursed chair. She rubbed her raw red wrists where the rope had been. It was a great relief t to have those ropes off, not only because she hated being tied up, but the stiff rope had been very uncomfortable.

Grateful for the ideas and finally being untied (she didn't blame Skipper for tying her up , she knew how paranoid he could be) she felt like she owed Skipper at least something. Suddenly, she realized what she could do. She leaned into Skipper, cupping her hand around his ear hole and began whispering something. Only, this time around, nosy readers were blessed by being allowed in on this conversation.

"Hey Skipper," She said quietly "I just thought I should let you know that tomorrow is Mary's birthday, just in case you guys want to do something or not."

Skipper nodded "Affirmative, Thief. The boys and I will think of something later."

"It's Miscellaneous Thief, not Thief, thank you very much."

Skipper nodded again, and then his face turned very serious all of a sudden.

"It's time for me to go now, isn't it?" She guessed from his expression.

He nodded again.

Miscellaneous Thief sighed "Yeah, I figured as much. But I do have one question before I go..."

"What's that?" Private asked.

"How is it that you guys are real?"

Skipper looked her directly in the eyes "What makes you think we are, Thief?"

She was about to reply, but a sound had barely escaped her before she felt another slap on her neck. She once again fell unconscious.

Miscellaneous Thief woke up to find herself lying on her bed. Her notebook and pencil were resting neatly beside her on her nightstand.

She twisted her face in confusion. Had that really happened? She felt her wrists again, which were sore but no longer showed any signs of redness. She at least knew that felt real.

Just then, her mom stuck her head through the doorway, causing Miscellaneous Thief to jump three inches into the air from fright.

"Oh, sorry," Her mom apologized "Didn't mean to scare you. Be wrapping it up, dinner's ready in five, 'kay?"

"Mm-kay." She grumbled groggily, still in the process of waking up.

Her mom took notice of this immediately and asked "Did you fall asleep?"

"That's one of the three options I'm considering." She replied. It was true, she had come up with three things to explain what had happened: either she just had thee best dream ever, she had finally gone completely insane, or, to her the best one yet, it had actually happened.

And with that, her mom left, leaving her alone to deal with her thoughts. Her face broke out into a wide grin as she suddenly had an idea. She turned to her bedside table, grabbing her notebook as fast as she could. Flipping back to where she left off, she wrote _Chapter 3: Author's Inspiration. _There was no way she was letting this go undocumented, whether it really happened or not.

* * *

><p>AN: *Now behind bars* Well, they caught me... again. *sighs* Maybe I can try the air ducts tomorrow. Everything described in here (i.e. my room, my cat, my notebook, things my dad told me, etc.)are all real. Now as for if this really happened to me, that is for me to know and for the readers to never find out. Mwahahaha...!

Warden- Hey, keep it down in there!

Me-*in a hushed voice again* Bye, guys. Keep the reviews rolling, the lift mah mood!


	4. Chapter 4

A/N: I know, I know! It's been a month and a half since I last updated! I am _so _sorry, guys. I've had some pretty crazy/tragic things going on, which included having news crews stalking me (not fun) and random people hugging me whenever I went somewhere public (also not fun). I fell into a bit of a depression, and completely lost my muse for writing. But yesterday, I was in the library when suddenly my muse came back kicking and screaming at me to get something done, so I spent a lot of time yesterday and today writing in my notebook and typing. In the spirit of Private, I hope you can forgive me.

PS- Listen to Heartbreak Warfare by John Mayer while reading this chapter, it really sets the mood.

Disclaimer- I don't own Penguins of Madagascar, but I do own four penguin bowling pins that I named after each character.

Chapter 4: Caught on Tape (Private's Pov)

"Skippah! Skippah!" I yelled, waving my flippers around in a frenzy as I rushed into HQ as fast as my short legs would carry me. I nearly fell down the ladder. As it was, I had already twisted my foot when I tripped on a root in Central Park, but that was hardly important to me at the moment.

In my panic, I ended up crashing right into Skipper. He gripped me by my shoulders, successfully holding me still.

"Slow down, Private! Where's the zombie apocalypse?" Skipper asked.

"Skippah! Something terrible's happened to Aly!" I exclaimed

"Start from the beginning. What happened?" Skipper demanded.

"Well, I was up-top perfecting a rather nice brunch, when I heard Aly scream. I ran to the park as fast as I could, but when I got there all that was left were some abandoned snow cone trays." I explained, keeping my voice as calm as I could.

"Coincidentally, has anyone seen Mary recently?" Kowalski asked.

"Actually, no." I replied at the same time Rico said "Nope."

Skipper clenched his flipper into a fist "Men, we have two soldiers gone AWOL. This has Blowhole written all over it. Kowalski, options!"

"We could either sit back and do nothing, or we could sneak into the zoo's security office on the off chance that one of the outside surveillance cameras caught what happened." Kowalski replied, producing crude drawing of either option on his clipboard.

"Doing nothing is not an option around here, Kowalski. Men, let's move out!" Skipper ordered.

Without further instruction, we flipped trough the fish bowl hole and across the fence. We landed gracefully on the concrete and began to toboggan towards the zoo office. We made it there with out anyone spotting us and entered the room.

The room itself was a small office, with barely enough room to fit a wooden desk facing a wall of monitors, each displaying a different angle of the zoo and the surrounding areas.

"Alright, Rico, you're on Alice watch. Kowalski, man the computer. Private, you're with me." Skipper said.

"What are we going to do, Skippah?" I asked.

"We're on monitor watching duty, young Private. With luck, we'll be able to see what happened." Skipper replied "Alright Kowalski, fire her up."

"Yes, Skipper." Kowalski said automatically as he pressed a series of buttons on the keyboard.

And then, almost as if traveling back in time, all the monitors began to rewind themselves as one. My eyes flickered constantly from screen to screen, watching for any sign of Aly or Mary.

Out of the corner of my eye I caught a brief glimpse of black and white movement on one of the far right monitors.

"Stop! I see something!" I yelled.

Almost instantly Kowalski complied and all the monitors froze at once.

"Which one, Private?" Skipper asked.

""Last row, middle monitor." I replied.

Kowalski pressed a few more buttons on the keyboard. Suddenly the picture I specified grew larger so that it was spread across all twelve monitors to give us a bigger picture. Then the video played.

At first, nothing really happened. The view was one of a typical Central Park, looking almost like an actual scene of nature except for the the occasional lamppost dotting the landscape or the distant sound of traffic from a road somewhere off in the distance constantly reminding one of where they were. Then the scene changed when Aly and Mary entered the camera's view, each carrying a tray of snow cones in their flippers. I silently thanked whoever installed the zoo's security for placing a camera there, otherwise we might not of ever found out what happened to them.

They soon walked close enough for the camera's microphone to pick up their conversation. But then I caught a glimmer of metal in an oak tree and realized something neither of them seemed to: they were walking right under a trap.

I heard Aly say _"... What else could go wrong?"_ And I winced at her choice of words because right at that moment the the cage fell from the tree, capturing her.

"_You had to say it!"_ Mary screamed at Aly.

_"Yeah, whatever. Just help me get out of here." _Aly replied, flustered

_'I finally caught you penguins."_ A familiar voice sneered. My heart skipped a beat. Please don't be him, I silently begged, anything but him.

But I was proven right when I saw the officer step out from behind a bush he was hiding in. I didn't want to believe what my eyes were telling me.

"_Oh no you don't. Anyone who messes with my cousin messes with me!" _Mary threatened as she got into a defensive position in front of Aly.

The attacker sniffed the air, like he had done countless times before on previous occasions, and grinned _"You're not the penguins I've dealt with before. No matter, you're still going down. The name's X. Officer X._

Mary said something then, but I wasn't listening to her. I was too busy focusing on the heart-breaking sight of Aly in a cage. She was such a great person, so why did she have to be cursed with such bad luck? It just wasn't fair! But then again, I remembered, if it wasn't for her bad luck we never would have met in the first place.

Suddenly Mary ran forward and jumped, readying herself for a frontal assault. But Mary didn't know that X already knew that move from battling with us before, not to mention that he had extremely well-trained reflexes, so she was caught completely by surprise when she was tazered in mid-air. She screamed and fell to the ground, where she was electrocuted for several seconds before finally passing out when the tazer was turned off. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Kowalski clenching his flipper into a fist.

X picked Mary up and put her into a different cage than Aly's. He grabbed Aly's cage and started carrying them away.

"_PRIVATE!" _Aly screamed with terror. For a spit second she looked directly at the camera, directly meeting my eyes. Even though I knew she couldn't see me, it still felt like she was staring at me. I could see the fear in her eyes, and it made my heart ache out for her.

Seconds later my past self rushed into view. I realized that Aly was hidden from my sight by a couple of bloody trees. I could of saved her if I had just looked harder!

X slammed the door and drove off, taking with him the love of my life. My past self had already found the abandoned snow cone trays and was now running. A few seconds later I was gone from the camera's view, and the scene turned to that of a of typical Central Park, with lamppost dotting the landscape and the sound of distant traffic.

"Alright boys, looks like we're going to the pound." Skipper said after a few seconds of silence.

Suddenly Rico ran into the room, screaming "'lice! 'lice!"

"Alice alert! Quick, everybody hide!" Skipper ordered.

We all scrambled to hide. I went to hide behind the trashcan, but Rico was already there. Then I went for behind the curtain, but Kowalski and Skipper beat me to it. Running out of options, I quickly dove under the desk right before the redhead in her yellow outfit walked in.

"Say that again, you have _two_ penguins?" Alice asked into her cellphone.

"Really? Both of them? Okay, I guess we'll take them. Who knows, maybe they'll help the penguins settle down a little, if you know what I mean." Alice snorted as she slipped on her jacket and grabbed her keys off a hook "Yeah, I'll be there in a hour to pick 'em up."

Alice passed by all of us with out a second glance back, and then left the room. As we came out of our hiding spots, I saw Kowalski shoot Skipper a questioning look.

"Skipper..." he led off.

"We'll see what Alice is up to _after_ we rescue Cadet and Blondie. Now let's go!" Skipper ordered.

Now matter what, I silently vowed, I was going to find Aly and bring her back, safe, or someone was going to get hurt.

A/N: I'm so mean to Private! Leave a review if you feel sorry for him!


	5. Chapter 5

A/N: Yay, another chapter! Thanks to hipturtle15 (that's for you to know and me to find out- oh wait, I got that backwards) and DoctorKowalskiBlowhole (and don't worry, there will be plenty of Blowhole in my next story!) for reviewing! This chapter is going to be at the pound with our two captured penguins who, in case you forgot, were about to be attacked by their cellmate, a ginger cat. Also, this chapter introduces a new O.C., who will appear in future stories.

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><p>Chapter 5: Strange Friends in Odd Places (Aly's Pov)<p>

"Whoa, whoa! Calm down, kid! I'm not gonna hurt ya!" The ginger cat said, automatically taking a step back as if to prove her point.

Confused, but still not trusting her, I stayed in my position in front of Mary. I cocked head to the side.

"You're not?" I asked.

"Nah, I don't even like birds. I prefer mice 'n rats. 'Sides, I don't got the heart ta hurt a kid. The name's Sparks." She said as she held out a paw to shake.

After carefully studying her face and deciding that she was being sincere, I straightened back up and accepted her paw. Besides, if it turns out that she's going to double-cross us later, it's one and a half (I counted Mary as a half since she was injured) trained penguins against one alley cat.

"Aly. And this is my cousin, Mary" I said. Mary waved her flipper.

"So," began Mary, who winced in pain as she tried to get up "Do you know how to get out of here?"

"If I knew that, d'ya think I would still be in here?" Sparks replied sarcastically.

Mary's face fell "Oh, right."

"So how did you get caught?" Mary asked, starting a conversation.

I silently sank unnoticed into the back corner of the cage, where it was darkest. Mary and Sparks were too busy chatting away to pay attention to what I was doing. Looks as if they were hitting it off right away as friends. I smiled faintly for them, glad that Mary found a friend until the nagging thought of where we were brought itself to my attention once again. I sighed.

I surveyed the small room, looking for any possible way to escape. As far as I could see, there was none. I mentally cursed Officer X, animal control, and even whoever built this stupid cage for making it so flipping hard to get out of.

I found myself subconsciously pulling on the locket Private had given me. I opened it up and gazed at it dejectedly. As I stared longingly at his smiling picture, I imagined him standing next to me, comforting me. Some unknown force in my mind told me that it wasn't impossible for that to happen. I knew Private would never, ever give up looking for me.

Suddenly I found a great weight on my shoulders be lifted off. Yeah, we're going to get out of here. The team _is_ going to rescue us _eventually_. I thanked Private's picture for giving me the confidence boost I desperately needed before I snapped the locket shut and let it fall back onto my chest.

The sound of someone entering the room stirred me out of my thoughts. I glanced up to see young man walking into the room.

He had an animal carrier with him.

He continued walking, heading our direction. He appeared to be fumbling around for something in his pocket. As he drew closer I got a better look at him. He was around nineteen with messy, brown hair, kind, brown eyes and an extremely freckled face. He was wearing a white lad coat which, attached by a clip, bore a name tag stamped with the building's logo and his name: Jackson.

He came to a stop right in front of our cage. He fumbled around in his pocket for a few more seconds, before finally producing a security card. He swept the card through the scanner and a second later the door was unlocked. He didn't let it open all the way, and stopped it so that it was only opened about an inch instead. Mary and I exchanged wary glances, preparing to defend each other in case he turned out to be like Officer X.

Seeing our reaction, Sparks intercepted "Whoa, take it easy! J's alright. He's like, the only nice _human,_" she spat the word "In this prison."

I let my defenses down, but only a little bit. Skipper's words of paranoia played in my head _"You can't be too certain when it comes to humans. People that seem nice could easily not be."_

"Okay, guys," Jackson said, shaking me out of the memory "I'm gonna open the door now. Can I trust that you won't run out once it's open?"

He looked each of us directly in the eye, determining our reply, before moving to slowly let the door swing open on it's own. He moved in and knelt down, opening the metal door to the carrier once he was on his knees.

I saw Sparks stare longingly at the open door. Almost as if she were hypnotized by the thought of it. She seemed to be debating making a run for it. Not that I could blame her, I was thinking of the same things. Jackson seemed to notice this, because he shifted his position to block the exit.

"Don't even _think _about it, Ginger." He warned with a slightly serious undertone.

I looked skeptically at Sparks "Ginger?"

"J likes to name the animals here." She replied sheepishly.

Before I reply to her, I suddenly found myself being gently pushed into the carrier by Jackson. Instead of fighting back, which I urged to do, I complied. I decided I would much rather go in willingly than being forced to. Besides, I knew what they did to animals that fought back here.

Mary followed me in after I was inside and the door was shut. I looked back at Sparks. She seemed kind of sad.

"Sorry, Ginger. Not today." Jackson said regretfully before he turned and walked away with us in hand, shutting the cage door behind him.

"Good luck, kid. You guys are gonna need it." Sparks said right before we exited the room and were once again in the hallway.

"What does that mean?" I asked Mary.

Mary simply shrugged in response "I don't know."

"You two are lucky," Jackson said suddenly, peering down at the carrier as he talked "Most of the animals here don't get adopted so quickly. And to such great owners, too!"

"What!" Mary and I both shrieked.

"Oh, this isbad." I cried, pacing what little space there was "We can't be adopted!"

"Aly, calm down!" Mary ordered me "Look, obviously there's nothing we can do right now, so freaking out is not going to do anything."

I sighed and sat back down, now clutching the bars of the carrier with my flippers. I hate it when she's right.

"But how is Private going to find us now?" I asked in a quiet voice while staring at my necklace.

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><p>AN: Okay, so it turns out Sparks wasn't mean after all. I kind of got inspiration for her character from Hunter in Operation: Antarctica. And for any of you who want to know, Jackson is inspired by a real person I used to know (and crushed on). If you (the real life Jackson), by some strange coincidence, happen to read this story then please, by all means, send a pm my way!

And one more thing before I sign off: this will be the last story I torture Aly and Private as a couple (I figured I would give a break). My next few stories are (hint, hint) going to focus on another couple that only ONE reviewer has anticipated, so far.


	6. HIATUS

Hey guys. I'm really, really, REALLY sorry, but, until further notice, this story is on hiatus. I had a very rough year, and a lot of bad things happened to me. But, I've decided "Enough moping around" and have started writing again. I have two chapters already written (I'd like to get at least five before I publish) of a new Rico-centric story, and a chapter of a TMNT story that I'm publishing tomorrow. I just have lost the inspiration for this story.

Once again, I'm sorry. Thank you for your understanding.


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